Lucic confident Shanahan will make proper ruling

WILMINGTON – When practice was wrapped up at Ristuccia
Arena on Monday morning, it was time to play the waiting game for
Milan Lucic.

The Bruins winger had a hearing with Brendan Shanahan, the
NHL’s chief disciplinarian, scheduled for 1 o’clock for
his now-infamous collision with Sabres netminder Ryan Miller.

“It’s obviously something that I just have to go
through and just state my case,” Lucic said. “Whatever
happens, happens. All I can do is tell my end of the story and what
happened.”

Lucic reiterated the same tale as the one he told on Saturday
night after Boston’s 6-2 win over Buffalo, stressing that
Miller came into his sightline late and that he didn’t have
time to pull up.

“I blocked the shot and I pushed the puck a little too far
ahead of me,” said Lucic, who was coming in on a potential
breakaway when Miller bolted from his crease to play the puck.
“I first came after the puck as hard as I possibly could. I
looked at the puck and I was continuing on. Next thing I look up
and he’s coming out full speed right at me. It was a hard
collision and I did everything I could just to brace myself.

“Like he said, I have fifty pounds on him, so that’s
probably why he might’ve got the worst of it. Even if you
look at the video, I was cringing after the play because I was
winded and because it was such a hard collision. He got a good
piece of me as well.”

For Miller, the worst of it is a reported concussion. The
Sabres’ goalie left after the second period trailing 3-1.

“I’ve looked at the hit a hundred times because he
said he got a concussion,” Lucic said. “His shoulder
hit my chest, so there was no hit to his head. His helmet came
flying off, but his head didn’t hit the ice. Later on in that
period, one of their guys lifted [Tyler] Seguin’s stick and
threw him into the net as well, so who knows what it was.
It’s obviously unfortunate he got hurt on the
play.”

As for Miller’s harsh words about the winger after the
game, in which he called the hit gutless and referred to Lucic as a
“piece of (expletive),” the B’s forward
wasn’t too riled up about it.

“Obviously he felt like he needed to stick around and say
what he said,” Lucic said. “For me, it’s just in
one ear and out the other. I’ll just move on and focus on
what I need to do to continue helping this team be
successful.”

Though getting suspended would throw a wrench in those
plans.

“Obviously you’d be disappointed no matter if the
team was on a roll or not on a roll,” said Lucic, who has
played a key role in Boston’s five-game winning streak.
“For myself, these last eight or nine games I’ve found
my game, so the last thing you want to do is get out of the lineup.
It’s out of my control. I feel like Brendan Shanahan’s
been doing a real good job of what he’s been doing this year
and he’s going to make the right decision.”